The Professional Master of Science degree (Professional Science Master) is a self-contained, terminal, professional MS degree in a concentration area of science or mathematics, often in an emerging field that spans two or more traditional disciplines (e.g., bioinformatics, nanobiotechnology). It is a new type of master's degree that prepares people to work outside of academia. It is a non-thesis, course work option combined with an internship either in a research laboratory or industry. It will prepare graduates with a traditional discipline oriented background to better meet the demands of the emerging high-tech economy.
RELATED PROGRAMS: Own/Other
The Professional Science
Master as a professional MS degree is a spin off from the traditional Master of
Science degree at Michigan Technological University. It appears that in the
Midwestern US only Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin are offering
professional master's programs (see below).
RATIONAL AND NEED
The definition and need for such new
professional master's degrees have been summarized and articulated by the Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation (see, for example,
http://www.sloan.org/programs/edu_careers.htm; http://www.sciencemasters.com;
http://www.sloan.org/programs/supresearch_cmb.htm):
Or, from remarks by Sheila Tobias (13 October 1999 Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) "Conceptualizing a New Degree" ):
Until now, these students have had nowhere to go, except directly into industry where, as terminal BS's (or BA's) they are housed in research labs as techies. There is of course the MBA or Law option. But for many of the students we are eager to serve, such postgraduate options cause them to have to "reinvent" themselves as law or business students, and to compete with students who, while not as well schooled in mathematics or science as they are, are able to compete with them in the arts of advocacy and/or marketing . . .
For examples of Professional Master's Programs in the Midwestern US see http://www.sciencemasters.com/regional.html.
Other examples see http://www.sciencemasters.com/programs_elsewhere_science.html.
Center for Biotechnology. Northwestern University. The program has been in existence for seven years and has enrolled over 200 students. It is a professional, 13-month intensive program that offers students an education in both the science and business of biotechnology. The curriculum includes core, specialization, and elective courses. Additionally, students complete an academic and industrial residency. Full-time students are recruited, about 40 in a class, for specialization in genetic engineering/genomics; cell biology/immunology; bioengineering; bioinformatics; medicinal chemistry. Requirement for entry is a bachelor's degree in science, but not any particular science.
Biotechnology. University of Pennsylvania, jointly sponsored by Penn Engineering and Penn Arts and Sciences. There are three tracks: Basic Biotechnology (emphasizing molecular biology), Engineering Biotechnology (emphasizing bioprocess engineering central to pharmaceutical manufacturing), and Computational Biology/Bioinformations (preparing students to handle genomic databases). Core subjects, include both science (such as recombinant DNA technology) and non-technical subjects (such as bioethics, government regulatory, and drug-approval policies and patent law). The program accepts both full- and part-time students. It takes full-time students one full year (12 months) to complete.
Master's Degree in Applied Physics with Internships in the Semiconductor Industry. Texas Tech University. A novel MS degree option in Applied Physics with a strong emphasis on electronic materials and device processing. This program, designed to be completed in less than two years, provides an opportunity for professional advancement in the form of supported internships in major semiconductor corporations located throughout the Southwest. The internships give participants the opportunity to learn the use of state-of-the-art instrumentation.
Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is a pioneering new graduate school offering an alternative to conventional graduate programs in the biosciences. Its primary focus is developing applications from the emerging discoveries in the life sciences, and educating leaders for the biosciences industry. Its two-year professional Master of Bioscience (MBS) program offers cross-disciplinary training and research at the interfaces of science and engineering, emphasizing bioinformatics, pharmaceutical development, bioengineering, genomics and proteomics, and management, policy, and ethics.
The Master of Science in Applied Science at RPI is a professional, non-thesis, degree, that prepares graduates who have traditional discipline oriented backgrounds to function more effectively in industrial, governmental, or other occupations that are interdisciplinary in nature. It is intended to help professionals upgrade their technical expertise and cross boundaries among disciplines. In addition to extensive science offerings, students may take applicable courses in other schools such as Management, Engineering, or Humanities and Social Sciences.
More examples of professional science master's degree programs can be found at http://www.sciencemasters.com/fields.html.
POTENTIAL APPLICANT POOL (http://www.sloan.org/programs/supresearch_cmb.htm)
The primary pool of students interested in such professional master's degrees are those who have recently earned a bachelor's degree in science, mathematics, or a computing science/engineering field and want to combine it with another "high-demand" area for professional jobs in one of the emerging high-tech industries. For example, there are undergraduate majors in biology, with either limited mathematics, statistics, and computer skills, or computer science majors with limited biological knowledge, who are not able to qualify for entry-level jobs in biocomputationally-intensive fields.
Another potential pool of professional master's degree students consists of current employees of companies who are seeking to upgrade or expand their skills and qualifications, or move out of the laboratory environment while still remaining in research.
It is anticipated that the Professional Science Master's degree program will promote stronger industrial partnerships both through distance education and by the development of applied research projects for the professional master's candidates. The projects could be done either on-campus or off-campus, typically at the site of one of our corporate partners. The professional master's degree particularly lends itself to short-term projects that often are required by industry. It is to be expected that the proposed professional degree meshes with the Smart Park concept and will lead to a higher level of integration and synergy between participating companies and Michigan Tech.
Different options, when introduced for a particular area of concentration, may require some additional resources, but they are anticipated to be small since the professional master's student population in a given area of concentration will be spread across different departments and/or colleges and take advantage of already existing courses as core courses for the professional degree. It is difficult to predict how many students are likely to ultimately enroll in a professional master's program. If it is similar to already existing programs, we might expect about 10-20 per option. In some ways there should be economies, since there will be more students enrolled in graduate and senior-level elective courses, which typically have low enrollments. An analysis of the enrollments in 4000-, 5000-, and 6000-level science courses during the last academic year indicates that there is excess capacity, defined as an enrollment of less than 10 students, in most graduate-level courses.
PROGRAM OPTIONS
Once the Framework for the Professional
Master of Science degrees is in place, individual programs will be established
by 1) departments or 2) interdisciplinary committees. Profession Science
Master's programs are not intended to substitute for the tradition, disciplinary
MS programs with their emphases on basic science and research tailored to
individual students. A Professional Master's of Science degree oversight
committee will be established within the College of Sciences and Arts to
prescreen degree programs as they are proposed and to ensure quality of existing
programs. This committee will initially consist of one representative from the
graduate committees of each department of the College of Sciences and Arts.
Representatives from graduate committees from the College of Engineering and the
School of Forestry and Wood Products can be added as necessary. The committee
will select its own chair.
New course descriptions, projected enrollment, program costs, equipment need, faculty resumes, library and other learning resources, and space needs must be specified when a specific program option for an area of concentration is proposed. The proposals for new program options under this umbrella will go through the normal internal approval process including the Graduate School, University Senate, Provost, and President.
Proposals for program options or areas of concentration must demonstrate that the planned professional master's degrees have realistic potential to be economically sustainable. This means that revenues from tuition and other sources (for example fellowship support from industry) should be sufficient to pay the program's costs, after an appropriate start-up period. In general, students pursuing a professional master's degree will normally not be eligible for hire as graduate assistants. Scholarships or fellowships could be available for some students, especially for a start-up period, and/or as an incentive match, but, for the most part, the professional science master students will pay full tuition and hence increase revenue to the University. Submission of grants to support creation of such degree programs is encouraged.
CURRICULUM DESIGN
The Professional Science Master will
have a number of possible concentrations (for example Bioinformatics). For
interdisciplinary programs, 'cognate' means a department other than those
departments represented in the program or area of concentration.
ADMISSION AND DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Students wishing to
enter a Professional Science Master's degree program option are subject to
Michigan Tech's general Graduate School admissions requirements for MS students.
Exceptional students with degrees in areas that do not include the necessary
background course work may be allowed to enter the program, but such students
are likely to be required to take additional course work for no credit.
The degree requirements and distribution between course work and practicum/ internship credits follow those of the professional Master's of Engineering degree program which was approved by the Board of Control in the spring of 1998. The administration follows that of the non-departmental PhD in Engineering model because faculty constituting each option or area of concentration normally will come from two or more of the traditional departments. Each multi-departmental grouping is charged with administration of the professional science master's program in accordance with the University's rules and regulations for graduate studies and has the same degree of autonomy as an academic department does in regulating its own program. Interdepartmental activity of this type is conducted under the aegis of the Graduate School, the College of Sciences and Arts, and an interdepartmental committee (represented by a program chair). The development of an Advisory Board for any proposed program with members from industry is deemed to be necessary in assuring practicum/internship opportunities and suitably recruitment and training of the graduates of these programs.
Thus, the design and structure for all options which seek approval under the Professional Science Master umbrella are as follows:
In principle it is possible for students enrolled in a B.S. program to complete the degree by appropriate planning of the course schedule in one year of full-time study (plus summer internship/practicum).
The Graduate School's general requirements are described below; individual programs may have additional requirements. Students are expected to know their program's requirements.
Advisor
Initially the advisor may be the program's
graduate coordinator, but as soon as possible, and by the end of the first
semester in residence, a permanent advisor should be chosen. This MTU graduate
faculty member advises the student on course selection and choice of practicum
experience. The advisor is an important factor in the graduate student's timely
and successful completion of his or her program of study.
Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee is nominated
by the program chair, usually in consultation with the advisor, and approved by
one of the participating schools or colleges. At least two of the three
examiners must be members of the graduate faculty and one of the graduate
faculty members must be from outside the major department.
Degree Schedule
The Preliminary Degree Schedule form,
available from the program chair, is used to list all the courses that the
student will use for the professional science master's degree option. The
completed form must be approved by the program committee and the Graduate School
office during the first semester of enrollment. The Final Degree Schedule form,
available from the program chair, must be filed after completion of the
practicum and prior to the granting of the degree. It lists all the courses
applied to the professional science master degree option, gives the advisory
committee membership, provides an abstract of the practicum, and is endorsed by
the student, the advisor, the program chair, the dean of sciences and arts, and
the dean of the graduate school. The forms mentioned above, including additional
details concerning procedures and timetables, are also available in
Keeping on Track in Graduate School, available in department
offices, in the Graduate School office, and on the Web
Course Work
These courses must meet certain
requirements, described below, and they must be approved by the advisor and the
program chair. Because this degree is meant to prepare students to be more than
"techies", it is necessary that they have more than just the engineering and
science knowledge required of this graduate degree. Consequently, 3 credits in a
business course, 3 credits in a nonacademic communication course (e.g.,
technical and scientific communication), and a course in research ethics are
required to assure that the students have the wider range of skills and
knowledge expected of project managers and coordinators in today's information
and teamwork-driven workplace. Courses taken while an undergraduate at Michigan
Tech may be used for graduate degree credits if the Senior Rule form (available
from the department secretary) has been appropriately filed. Courses taken while
a postgrad may be used on the Degree Schedule with departmental approval.
Grades
All grades must be B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or
better in the major subject area. The programed chair can approve no more than 6
credits of C (2.0) in a cognate department. The student must maintain a
cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better in all courses taken as a
graduate student.
Campus Residency Requirement
A minimum of one-half of
the course work credits must be taken in residence at MTU.
Time Limit
All work required for a Professional Science
Master's degree program option must be completed within five calendar years of
the first enrollment in the degree program.
NEW COURSE DESCRIPTION
PSM5998Professional Science Master Practicum/Internship 2-4 Credits
Description:Advanced independent study for students in a Professional Science Master's degree option. The student in consultation with his/her advisor develops and executes a project demonstrating capabilities in problem solving, communications, and decision making. The practicum/internship can be done on campus or at the site of an industrial partner. Students must submit a written report and make an oral presentation related to their project to their advisory committee.
Prereq: None
Restriction: Professional Science Master's students only.
PLANNED IMPLEMENTATION DATE
Fall 2001
ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS
None
REFERENCES
http://www.sciencemasters.com/articles_references.html
October 2000
University Business, pp. 33-38, "The Art and Science of New Degrees", By
Margaret Littman
October 2000 "Mastering Physics for Non-Academic Careers",
an American Institute of Physics Report Commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation on the Nature of Professional Physics Master's Programs in the United
States
29 May 2000 Chemical and Engineering News, Vol. 78 No. 22, pp. 65-67,
"Education: The New Master's"
3 April 2000 The Scientist 14[7]:41, "Designer
Degrees or Academic Alchemy? Professional master's programs attempt to teach
skills for today's world", By A.J.S. Rayl
28 January 2000 The Arizona Daily
Star, "UA science college creating master's for industry", By Sarah Garrecht
Gassen
13 October 1999 Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology
(CPST), "Conceptualizing a New Degree", Remarks by Sheila Tobias at a gathering
of educators, industry and government agency representatives, convened to
discuss "Emerging Fields in Science"
4 June 1999 Science, pp. 1610-1611,
"Reinventing the Science Master's Degree", By Mari Jensen
June 1999 Physics
Today, pp. 54-55, "Professional Master's Degrees Promise Quicker Entry into
Industrial Jobs", By Jean Kumagai
August 1998 Industry & Higher
Education (London, UK), pp. 213-216, "The Science-Trained Professional: A New
Breed for the New Century", By Sheila Tobias and Frans Birrer
Adopted by Senate: May 2, 2001
Approved by President: May 7,
2001